Markings
by Lupercal
Summary: Kiba has to take his place as clan Alpha, which means finding a mate, While the Akatsuki are up to no good and trying to capture Biju.Some OOCness, and alternated storyline. Kibaino. Takes place a few years after Naruto returns.M for safety and citrus.
1. Introduction

**Hey peoples, so I made my first fic a while ago and posted a chapter of it on this site, before deciding that I hated it, alot, I may or may not go back and finish or continue it but for now it is dead, so this is really my first Fanfic. It will be Kibaino, as they are one of my favorite pairings and there is not enough of them on this site. a quick key to how i do things. **

**Bold - A/N or Powerful being speaking**

_**Italics**_** - Indicates thought, also ' ' will be used rather than " " if a person is talking to themselves or thinking. **

**Things you need to know for my story: Takes place after Naruto has come back from training with Jiraya, just imagine a time skip as I dont like some of the filler. Only difference in plot is that Sasuke does not know how to do the Chidori. Why? Because I don't like sasuke, and I do like the Chidori, he doesnt deserve it. Characters are all 17-18, Kiba is nearly 18, Ino is 17 as well, but younger. **

**Another thing, I may or may not have the characters act a bit OOC, if they do, its my perogative, deal with it :P**

**Anyway, on with the fic (or the beginning at least).**

* * *

Death? No… The idea was preposterous… He couldn't die; he was too strong, too… wild. To be captured by something as insignificant as death was an idea barely worth noting. But how had this happened then? He remembered… a bug… An insignificant bug, a mortal bug, what had its name been? No matter, he would decide later, and punish that bug for its trespasses. Now he had more pressing matters to deal with… Like death...

All at once, the being realized how close to death it was. And attempted to roar its disapproval. But no sound came out, and things looked... hazy? No, hazy was not the right word, he could still see things clearly when he focused on them. It was as though a film had dropped over his eyes, tinting colors, causing them to be off. What was going on?

Abruptly the colors shifted to the way he was used to seeing them, greens where they should be, reds and blues, all present and accounted for. He noticed that staying alive wasn't nearly as hard as it had been for him 2 minutes ago, his breathing seemed easier… Wait… Something was wrong… He wasn't breathing at all. He looked down at his body and was confused with what he saw, or rather, what he didn't see. Where had his body gone? Looking closer, he noticed a hazy outline at the very edge of where he should be. Good, he decided, I do have a… body? This was all very confusing, was he dead or wasn't he?

**'Stupid universe'**, he grumbled to himself. **'Why can't it make up its mind?'**

In any case, he needed to get himself back into a body. Definitely had some issues with this whole corporeal thing. A being such as he deserved a body, a nice body, he reasoned, not just any run of the mill body. With the happy thought that he was better than every thing and everybody else, he set off through the forest, heading south. Why not? Up this far north he didn't know any bodies that particularly jumped out at him as one he would like to inhabit, and besides, maybe the hotter climate to the south wouldn't bother him so much, considering his lack of corporeal flesh to heat up.

That was settled then, south it would be, he would go there, he would find a body befitting one such as himself, and he would make an example of the bug that had inconvenienced him like this. He grinned a feral grin to himself (though to most it would look the same as if he were just baring his teeth), and set off to the south, trotting along through the trees (literally, it seemed his strange incorporeal-ness had a few side effects) and swishing his tails as he went.

* * *

Miles to the south, and a few days later, the sun poked its way over the horizon and began to light the city of Konoha. A mop of ruffled brown hair shifted as its owner winced, the sun striking him all to suddenly directly in his half-sleeping eyes. Said eyes opened, revealing themselves (though no one is looking) to be a dark gold in color, and flashed dangerously as he glared in the general direction of the stupid yellow orb that had woken him up.

Kiba Inuzuka yawned and stretched as he sat up, shuffling to his bathroom to begin his day as his dog Akamaru remained curled at the foot of the bed and dozed. After showering, he dressed, opting for black training pants and his black mesh shirt, leaving his grey coat because of the heat.

_'You'd think the village hidden in the leaves would have a little more shade'_, he mused as he traipsed down the stairs to grab a bite to eat and feed Akamaru his breakfast. His mother and sister were not around, so he figured they were either taking care of something important or else sleeping. There was a note on the table however, he noticed as he got Akamaru his breakfast. Moving over to the table, he saw that it was from his sister.

Kiba

Hokage wants to see you at 10am sharp, something to do with the upcoming exams, don't be late.

Hana

The Chunin Exams… he was still technically a Genin, as the exams hadn't taken place since the last disastrous attempt, and they were coming up in three months, hosted by Suna under the leadership of Kazekage Garaa. There were quite a few people, Kiba included, who were excited at the prospect of finally becoming Chunin. None so much as Naruto, who had returned from his year-spanning trip with Jiraya stronger than before and just as hyperactive.

After eating, Kiba set out and headed to his usual training grounds with Akamaru to kill time until the meeting with Tsunade. He passed the time with a few exercises and the more physical aspects of his training regimen, considering the afternoon would be hotter and more comfortable to do chakra control exercises in the shade during. After training he went over the rooftops to the Hokage Tower, going up to Tsunade's office and knocking on the door.

"Enter" he heard Tsunade say, and he went into the office to find Tsunade sitting at her desk, while Hinata and Shino stood to one side. Shino looked at him (from behind his shades) as a greeting, while Hinata smiled at him before Tsunade spoke again.

"As I'm sure you all know, the Chunin exams are taking place in just over three months, and I have called you three here to discuss the issue of your training. Team 7 has all but dissolved, Naruto trains with Jiraya and Sakura with myself, though she will not be participating in these Chunin exams anyway. It is because of this that I have decided to have you three work with Kakashi in the months coming up to the exam. You are to report to training ground 5 tomorrow at 8 to meet him and begin whatever it is he has planned for you. That is all."

At this, Kiba was taken aback.

"But Hokage-sama, why can't we just train with Kurenai like we had planned on doing?", he asked. Now it was Tunade's turn to look puzzled.

"Well given her current condition I didn't think it was prudent to have her dealing with you three," she replied.

"Current condition?", at this Shino smiled, Hinata looked just a little amused, and Tunade rolled her eyes.

"Didn't your sister tell you what this meeting was about? Kurenai is pregnant, it's a big deal and a joyous occasion and all that, and it means that she can't train you. No matter, now you know, so go keep yourself occupied, I have work to do." Tsunade was usually busy during the morning, seeing as she got bored and didn't work much in the afternoons or evenings, so Kiba took the dismissal in stride and made his way out of the office.

Kurenai pregnant. Well that was something to digest, although Kiba supposed he should have been expecting it. She had gotten together with Asuma several months previously after he had plucked up the courage to finally ask her out, and they seemed to be serious. Ah well, as he left the Tower he decided he would go train with Akamaru for the rest of the morning, considering he had no pressing issues to take care of.

Around noon he decided he was hungry and went looking for something to eat. After seeing that he didn't have very much money on him and due to the fact that it was so warm, he bought a piece of fruit from a street vendor on one of the busy streets and walked along, eating it and thinking about nothing in particular and life in general.

Speaking of life, it had been pretty insane for him recently. As he grew older, he had to learn more and more about the politics of his clan, seeing as he was heir to the leadership eventually. It wasn't just his age though, clan rule dictated that the Alpha male must have an Alpha female to rule beside him, so Tsume would stay acting leader until Kiba found his female, or until the council of elders finally tired of his and Tsume's delay tactics and paired him up in a political marriage with an "eligible female". He had seen the eligible females, and decided he wasn't really interested. None of the girls his age in his clan had really done anything for him when he had interactions with them. Most were too timid, didn't treat him normally because of his status as clan heir, or else just didn't have anything in common from him outside of having dogs.

His mother told him he would know when he had found the one he would mate, but she wouldn't say why. She had, at least, been stopping the council from forcing him to marry, but as he neared his 18th birthday she was running out of excuses, it was normal for ninja, especially someone with status like Kiba, to marry young, considering the mortality rate of the position and the general maturity of ninja. When someone is asked to kill at the age of 12, getting married at 18 is not such a big deal.

He was interrupted from his musings by his arrival at his house, and he went in after a moment, still thinking about his situation. Just as he crossed the threshold the wind shifted, and he caught an extremely strange scent on the wind. It was faint, but whatever it was it smelled strong. Something about the smell rankled him, as though the smell told him to submit, but also awoke another part of him, one that refused to submit, he was (or would be) Alpha, and where did that smell get off acting like that?!? He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. A smell couldn't act like anything, he must be tired, or hot, or whatever. The smell was gone now anyway, so he sighed and continued inside.

* * *

Hours later the incorporeal being was running. He had been running for a while now, but he knew where he was going. There was a scent, one that was akin o his own in a way. It was Alpha, or almost like it, maybe just needing a nudge in the right direction. In any case, he was running out of time, and as he grew closer to the source of the smell he decided it was good enough, possibly better than expected. His "body" had been acting strangely, he felt as though he was losing bits of himself to the nothingness, the air, the ground. He had no way to know because he couldn't actually see himself, but he though fragments of him may be falling off. He was certainly tired. He would have described the feeling as "tired to the bone" except that he had no bones to be tired to. He knew he was dying, and tried again to roar his displeasure. This time it sort of worked, he managed an enraged sort of howl, and was pleased enough with himself. All he knew for sure was that he needed to follow that scent and get to that body, or he wouldn't be around much longer.

* * *

Kiba was startled out of his sleep by a strange noise. A howl that echoed in his ears, and his nose immediately was bombarded with that scent from before. Whatever was putting off that smell, it was close.

Akamaru was already up, and was staring out of the window towards the north. He looked over at his master, before speaking.

"He is coming, we do not have much time, put on your clothes and lets go."

"What?" Kiba was confused. Since when was Akamaru so cryptic and strange? "Who's coming?" he asked.

Akamaru, however, merely jumped up and out the window and set off towards the gates of Konoha, trotting along at a steady pace. Annoyed, Kiba threw on his clothes and scrambled out of the window after his dog, hurrying to keep up. As they came closer to the village wall, they passed through the training grounds. It was the middle of the night and no one was out, but Kiba caught a strange movement up ahead. All at once, a gigantic hazy shape could be seen, and the smell hit him in waves, whatever this thing was, it was also the source of the smell. It seemed to angle towards Kiba, increasing speed, and he merely stood looking at it, not knowing what to think, bracing himself for… for whatever would happen when it reached him.

As it barreled down on him he stumbled back, catching himself on his left arm and holding his right up in some small effort to defend himself, then it hit.

There was a flash of light, in reality or behind his eyes, Kiba couldn't know. He heard a strange roaring in his ears and felt a strange pain on his right arm, and a burning feeling racing through his body. That was all he got before he blacked out, with the exception of a fragment, and echo, possibly something his own brain made up due to the stress of whatever this was, a chuckling voice that seemed pleased with itself.

**"Good Enough…"**

* * *

**A/N: Well there you go, the introduction. Hopefully it wasn't too bad, I will likely post the beginning of the story later tonight or tomorrow. I would love for people to review, this is my first fic after all, flames are welcome, but keep in mind I will probably say a lot of nasty things at your expense behind your back if you flame me, so do so at your own peril. Akamaru didn't talk enough i think, seeing as he only had one line, but its just the intro. Hopefully some of you think this was good enough to come back and read the first chapter when I post it. If you find errors with my writing style or something that confuses you, please tell me so, as I don't know if i made some of this easy to understand, I have a strange way of thinking sometimes. Ah well, R&R please.**

** Lupercal  
**


	2. Mirrors and Glass

**Welp, that was a long wait... sorry, I havent had any time at all to type this up and post this. This is only the first part of the chappy, just the morning of the day, I'm taking a break for a few hours then I will get on typing the second half of it, I promise. This update is largely Ino-centric, but you'll find out what's going on with Kiba in the next half, and Akamaru will hopefully get a few lines. Also just a warning, This fic will probably be pretty slow, I like fluff and as SilentE said, Ino and Kiba have not interacted much in the canon storyline, so although I have an idea of how their personalities will mesh, I will have them interact quite a bit before they go anywhere romantically, though im thinking Kiba will start liking her first, hes a guy after all, and I'm going to do something to his sense of smell to help it along. **

**SilentE: So glad you reviewed, I read your recent KibaIno fic after confusing it with one on the list below it, thinking it to be longer, so when I got to the bottom of a page realized it wasn't going any further than the 4 or so chapters I read and liked, I got mad and channeled my fury into the beginnings of this fic. So you are super cool and need to update your fic faster so I can read it all. Maybe when were done we can get some decent KibaIno stuff on this site, there isnt enough of it IMO, because IMO there should be a ton. **

**Oh and forgot this on the first chapter:**

**Disclaimer: I dont own Naruto, if I did there would be more romance than just the stupid hinting, it would be rated R for several reasons, and Ino would be the property of a character based on myself. Sakura too. And Hinata when I felt like it. And Anko and Kurenai. **

**Anyway, enough of me boring you, on with the fic.**

Normal

_Thoughts_

_A/N_

_Demon or the like_

Kiba yawned and stretched as he sat up in bed… Wait… In bed? He looked around, wondering how he was there, and how he had gotten there. The last thing he remembered was going outside to investigate a smell. Which he couldn't smell anymore…

_'Could it have been a dream?'_ he wondered. Must have been, due to the lack of evidence to the contrary. He was in his bed, Akamaru was curled up on the floor, everything seemed to be normal, any other morning in the Inuzuka household.

He got out of bed and made his was to the bathroom to shower, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he went. He decided to put the puzzling (and very vivid) dream behind him and focus on the present. He would be meeting with Kakashi this morning, along with Shino and Hinata, to begin extra training for the Chunin exams. It had been a while since he had trained with his team, and he had never done so with the Copy-nin before. Because he was an unknown entity, Kakashi would have to be watched.

_'Wow'_, Kiba thought, _'Shino's logical smart guy attitude must be rubbing off on me a bit, gotta watch that or soon I'll be acting all serious and covering up half my face.'_ He tried to imagine himself in Shino's clothes, and nearly laughed out loud. He and the Bug-boy had a close friendship, but even Kiba found Shino a little bit weird from time to time.

After stepping out of the shower, he toweled off and shaved in front of his steamed up mirror, but thought he saw something odd in the misted-over glass. He wiped off the right half of the glass, but nothing was the matter. After he wiped off the left side however, he saw…

"WHAT?!?"

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Ino Yamanaka was up early that morning, watering some flowers before she headed out for the day. She was training for the upcoming Chunin exams as well, but had been working for a few weeks already due to an epiphany of sorts she had had not long ago. She realized that although many of her peers were had become very strong over the past few years, comparatively she had made little progress. I mean Sakura was apprentice to the Hokage, one of the legendary Sanin for crying out loud, and though their friendship had been repaired in the time since Sauske had left, their rivalry was as strong as ever.

So one night she had decided that she wanted to learn more. Most of her abilities complemented a stealth mission or the like, rather than open combat and although she had let her father know that she wanted to learn more of her family's mind jutsu, she had also decided that she wanted to learn more techniques of a combat oriented nature, especially considering that although she didn't know what all they would be doing at Suna's Chunin exams, there was sure to be a portion involving one on one fights in which to showcase their skills.

And so she was working on her taijutsu, learning a style that was almost like dancing, and was designed to use the enemy's movements against them and also to try to get out of range, she was a long range fighter and always would be, considering her family's signature jutsu. The other thing she had wanted to try was learning what element she had an affinity with, and after much pestering Asuma had agreed to help her get started training with her elemental chakra. Today was actually the day she was going to find out what hers was, and then hopefully she would be able to learn a few jutsu by the time the exams came around.

Finishing her ministrations on the flowers, she exited and headed to training ground 18, where Asuma had agreed to meet her. As she walked she munched on a granola-ish breakfast bar and mused about her recent decision to train harder. She was glad that now, with Asuma's help, she might actually make some progress, especially considering how far the other's had come. Shikamaru was just as smart as ever, though lazy, and could now not only immobilize people with their shadows, but actually physically harm them. She shivered at the idea of being strangled or otherwise killed by her own shadow, frozen and unable to do anything about it.

Ino had only been trapped by Shikamaru's jutsu once outside of sparring sessions when they were younger, and that had been during the brief time when they were dating. What a fiasco that had been, and maybe she had overreacted a little bit, maybe she didn't have to go after him with a kitchen knife, but he had trapped her and run away, so no harm done, right? He had it coming anyway…

Shikamaru had surprised her when he asked her out, but after that he hadn't done much to further their "relationship". They had too much of a love hate thing, friends one second and fighting the next, but could anyone blame her if he was a lazy sexist cloud-watcher who pushed her buttons like no one else could? No, they couldn't. She really didn't mind the breakup though, it was mutual, she couldn't deal with his laziness more than she already did as teammates and he thought she was pretty, but also nagging and a loudmouth. So they decided to just be teammates/friends and that was that.

Chouji was much stronger as well. He had grown into his body finally and although he still ate constantly, he burned it all off almost instantly. The guy was like a brother to Ino, a loyal teammate as well as friend, but the fact that he and Shikamaru were so strong while she had progressed little saddened her.

To top it all off Sakura, her rival, had progressed more than Ino's teammates combined. She was essentially a mini-Tsunade, and although Ino was an accomplished medic-nin as well, she had achieved nowhere near the level of mastery Sakura displayed.

Approaching the training ground, she pulled herself away from her depressing thoughts with happier ones. Today was the day she turned it all around. Today was the day she would figure out her element and begin training with it to be ready for the exams. Mentally prepared, she walked over to the still form of Asuma, smoking a cigarette as he lounged against a tree.

"Alright", he said as she approached, "take this and then we can get started". He handed her a piece of paper.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" she asked, puzzled.

"Its chakra paper, just focus some chakra into the hand that's holding it and see what happens. If your affinity is lightning it will crumple, wind it will split in half, earth it will turn to dust, fire it will burn and water… it will get wet, see?" He held up another piece of paper, paused a second, and then there was a tearing sound as the sheet ripped its self down the center in a jagged line. "I'm wind. Now you give it a try."

Ino focused her chakra as though she was performing a healing jutsu, before sending it streaming down her right arm to the hand that was holding the paper. There was a strange kind of tearing sound and a strange flash that caused her to jump and drop the paper, before she looked at what she had gotten.

The paper had been split into three pieces by a jagged line, like Asuma's had done, and they were lying on the ground, however one of the pieces was clearly sopping wet, and one crumbled away to dust before her very eyes. The third, and by far the largest piece, was sitting on the ground, flat and almost glossy, tinged a light purpley-pink color. She looked up at Asuma, questioning him with her eyes. "What does that mean?"

Asuma crouched down, his cigarette sticking out of the side of his mouth, clearly deep in thought. "Hmmmm… But that would mean…. AHA!!!" he exclaimed loudly, causing Ino to jump.

"What does it mean?!?" she asked, slightly apprehensive now, wondering what strange problem she had that caused the paper to react that way.

"No idea."

"What?"

"Absolutely no idea. Haven't the foggiest," Asuma replied.

"Well a load of help you are," she grumbled._ 'How dare he get me all worked up for nothing,'_ she thought to herself. _'But what on earth does this mean?'_ She suddenly realized that Asuma had been talking to her while she spaced out.

"…Hokage, or else her assistant," he finished.

"I'm sorry?"

"You should probably get in touch with the Hokage, or else her assistant," Asuma said. "I've never seen something like this before. It looks like it reacted to water, wind, and earth, but this last bit…" He paused, picking up the purple piece and straightening up. "It's like the paper is encased in a kind of glass, and its sharp too, look." He handed her the object, and upon further inspection of the edges, it was indeed rather sharp, like broken glass.

"You should bring that to the Hokage when you go to meet her, and let me know how it goes later, this is interesting. Whenever you figure out your element, I'd still be happy to help you out, if I can, though I'm not sure if you'll have an affinity for wind, seeing as there's evidence of earth and water there too. If you had an affinity for something else I was planning on pointing you in the direction of a Ninja who could better show you your element anyway. Anyway, I'm off to find Shikamaru and see if he's up for a game now that I have the entire morning off while you figure out your element problem."

With that he dropped his cigarette stub, stuck a new one in his mouth, lit it, and started off down the road, leaving Ino to her thoughts.

_'Fat lot of help he was, leaving me like that.'_ She would wish him bad luck in his game for not being of any use to her, but she didn't really have to. In all the years Asuma and Shikamaru had been playing Shogi and Go, Asuma had never once beaten the genius.

_'Ah well, I'm sure Tsunade or Shizune will be able to figure this out, they're both smart,'_ Ino mused. _'I just hope nothing is wrong with me…'_

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**Well theres the first half or 1/3 of the chappy, idk how long the second part is, havent typed it yet. Please R&R, and if you have any questions feel free to ask. Im not sure how I liked the first chapter, definitely like this update more, let me know what you think of my writing style, as I've said, its largely untested previous to this story. **

** Lupercal  
**


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